People have long been fascinated with the striking, precisely aligned “magnetic” mounds built by termites of the genus Amitermes in northern Australia. Although the first written accounts that attempted to explain this alignment date to the late 19th century, it wasn't until Gordon Grigg rotated mounds and systematically measured their orientations in the 1970s that any substantial research was carried out to test these speculations. The ideas Grigg developed about the advantages offered by this remarkable architecture proved insightful and have shaped the subsequent thinking on the physiological effect of these mounds. This article reviews the concepts and research that have developed around this small but fascinating area of investigation.